Vision
"Hear. Believe. Enjoy. Proclaim."
Our mission is worked out by giving all people the repeated opportunity to HEAR (Eph. 1:13; Rom. 10:13-17; Gal. 3:2), BELIEVE (1 Cor. 15:1; Jn. 3:16; 20:31; Gal. 1:9, 12), ENJOY (Ps. 16:11; Rom. 11:33-36), and PROCLAIM (Mk. 16:15; Rom. 1:15) the Gospel of Christ.
Why do you say "repeated opportunity"?
We must be repeatedly exposed to the gospel because we don't get the gospel! Ralph Erskine wrote,
They that think they know the gospel well enough bewray (reveal) their ignorance; no man can be too evangelical, it will take all his life-time to get a legal temper destroyed (The Works of Ralph Erskine, vol. 2, “Law-Death, Gospel-Life: or, The Death of Legal Righteousness, The Life of Gospel Holiness,” p. 27).
All men are wired for law-keeping not gospel-trusting. Man is addicted to a legal method of salvation. Even after becoming a Christian by believing the gospel, our hearts are still addicted to salvation by works. Our tendency is to quickly drift back into a performance mindset ( Gal. 1:6). We don't understand grace. We find it hard to believe that we should get any blessing before we work for it. This legal spirit is present even in the most mature saint.
It is not easy to overcome our legal disposition while we are in this world. Despite our best efforts, self and self-righteousness revive again and again. This is why we must repeatedly turn to the gospel again and again.
What do you mean by hear, believe, enjoy and proclaim?
A Gospel-driven Paradigm
These four words are intended to help believers learn how to live moment by moment in conformity with the truth of the gospel. However, it is important to understand that this paradigm is not intended to reduce the gospel into a “formula” or “how to” manual for Christian living. The gospel is not a formula and the Christian life is not lived by formulas but rather by faith in the Son of God (Gal. 2:20).
Hear.
Before a person can believe, enjoy or proclaim the gospel, he or she must first hear the gospel. "Where there is no knowledge, there is no faith," so wrote John Calvin (Galatians, p. 32).
In Romans 10:17, Paul writes, “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” The “word of Christ” is the gospel. The gospel is the ministry of the Holy Spirit (2 Cor. 3:8). It is through hearing the gospel that the Holy Spirit creates faith.
It is also through the hearing of the gospel that the Holy Spirit strengthens and sustains faith. In Galatians 3:1-5, Paul states that the Christian life begins “by hearing with faith” and continues day by day, moment by moment “by hearing with faith.”
Therefore, it is critical to hear the gospel repeatedly for it alone is the power of God for salvation (Rom. 1:16).
Believe.
The call to believe the gospel is not merely an invitation for “fire insurance” or a “get out of hell free card.” The gospel is not something a person believes to get started as a Christian and then progresses in his or her own strength, self-discipline or willpower.
The gospel is to be believed every moment of every day for all of life, as Paul writes in Galatians 2:20, “…the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Through hearing the message of the gospel, we are called to trust in a person, Christ (Acts 16:31; Rom. 4:24; Gal. 2:20).
Further, we are not called to live the gospel but to believe it (cf. Jn. 3:16; 20:31). By hearing and believing the gospel, we are driven to live out the implications of the gospel (Rom. 6:1-14; 1 Cor. 6:15-20; Eph. 4:1, 32-5:2; Titus 2:10). The gospel leads to a life of continual repentance. Repentance and faith are essential. The more we grow in our understanding of the gospel, the more aware we become of our utter lack of righteousness and need for Christ. Thus, the way to repent is to believe the gospel (Mk. 1:15). Knowledge of one’s desperate state before God produces true confession and repentance. Therefore, the gospel is the power of God both to save and to sanctify. It is to be believed for forgiveness of sins as well as growth in holiness.
Enjoy.
Repeatedly hearing and believing the gospel leads to heartfelt joy in God. When a man is awakened to the love of God in Christ, God becomes the greatest pleasure in his life.
It is easy to miss the necessary connection between Romans 1-11 and 12-16. Paul doesn’t simply move from doctrine (1-11) to duty (12-16). Doctrine that just fills heads but fails to transform hearts is the result of unbelief.
Before plunging into the ethical exhortations of chapters 12-16 (“therefore” Rom. 12:1), Paul breaks out into a spontaneous, Spirit-wrought doxology in 11:33-36 (i.e., heartfelt joy in God!). This is neither a digression from his argument nor an insignificant point. Before moving on to one’s duties in the Christian life, Paul first breaks forth into doxology.
The gospel (Rom. 3:21-11:32) makes you love God because it makes God look lovely instead of tyrannical. The gospel produces heartfelt joy in the believer’s heart for God (Rom. 11:33-36). No man will ever love or delight in God (Ps. 37:4) until he knows and understands how much God in Christ loves him (1 John 4:18-19). It is through this enjoyment of God that one’s desire to love and live for God overflows (Romans 12-16; 2 Cor. 8:1-5).
The gospel, then, is the source of the believer’s affections as well as the fire that ignites them (i.e., Rom. 11:33-36). In turn, ignited affections (i.e., heart-felt joy in God, gratitude) result in true obedience and holiness of life (i.e., ethics, doing, Romans 12-16). The believer’s obedience to God is nothing else than the expression of heartfelt joy in God (i.e., thankfulness to God) for having been freely justified and redeemed. The believer’s obedience is from life not for life.
Thus, the progression of the Christian life is not “doctrine” then “do.” Rather, the progression is: “Doctrine > Doxology > Do.”
Proclaim.
Heartfelt joy in God through Christ leads to a love and delight to live according to the will of God in all good works. Proclamation of the gospel is the natural overflow of a heart captured by the love of God in Christ.
Regrettably, many Christians understand the gospel as that which is only proclaimed to unbelievers in order to get them “saved,” while the duties of discipleship are for believers. However, the gospel is to be proclaimed to believers also.
In Romans 1:15, Paul says he eagerly desired to proclaim good news to the believers in Rome. In 1 Corinthians 11:26, Paul teaches that the church proclaims the Lord’s death to itself every time it observes the Lord’s Supper. The Christian’s faith is not only created but also strengthened by the repeated proclamation of the gospel to himself.
The gospel is also to be proclaimed to unbelievers. Evangelism and missions are a chief implication of the gospel being the gospel. To be gospel-driven is to be mission minded (Gal. 1:16). Evangelism is not forced labor like a slave but rather a delight to be shared like a lover.
Thus, the gospel produces an eagerness to proclaim the gospel to believers (Rom. 1:15) as well as unbelievers (Mk. 16:15). The gospel produces a desire to see unbelievers converted (Rom. 9:2-3) and believers edified (Col. 1:28).
The Christian life is lived out of this gospel-driven paradigm of repeatedly hearing, believing, enjoying and proclaiming the gospel.
By repeatedly proclaiming and modeling this paradigm we desire to change believer’s mindsets in order to bring about authentic transformation (Rom. 12:2) and genuine conversion (Acts 26:18). Both are only possible by the power of the gospel.
We desire to bring freedom and joy to believers who are struggling and failing in their Christian walk. And, we desire to see genuine soul conversion for unbelievers. We pray for the eyes of unbelievers to be opened so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in Christ.
Ultimately, in proclaiming the gospel to both believers and unbelievers, we desire all to be done to the praise of the glory of His grace (Eph. 1:6, 12, 14).
